VP of Firefox Needs a Nap, Will Leave Mozilla in March

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Another major change for Mozilla

Johnathan Nightingale is stepping down as Mozilla's vice president of Firefox and leaving the company effective March 31. Before he leaves, he wants you to know that Firefox is in a good place, that "2014 was an incredible year," and that Mozilla today is stronger than it's ever been. He also knows that his departure will have people questioning all those things and will bring out the trolls.
"When this news gets out, I imagine someone will say something stupid. That it’s a Sign Of Doom. Predictable, and dead wrong; it misunderstands us completely," Nightingale stated in a blog post. "When things looked really rough, at the beginning of 2014, say, and people wanted to write about rats and sinking ships, that’s when I, and all of you, stayed."
Having stayed the course, Nightingale says Mozilla and Firefox are in good places right now, and if he's to leave, now is the time. The way he sees it, he's leaving behind a browser that now sits on a solid and flexible foundation thanks to Mozilla's recent search deal with Yahoo, and one with a bright future.
So why leave?
"Iit makes me feel like a chump to be packing up in the midst of it all; but it’s time. And no, I haven’t been poached by Facebook," Nightingale added. "I don’t actually know what my next thing will be. I want to take some time to catch up on what’s happened in the world around me. I want to take some time with my kid before she finishes her too-fast sprint to adulthood. I want to plant deeper roots in Toronto tech, which is incredibly exciting right now and may be a place where I can help. And I want a nap."
Fair enough, though no matter how much Nightingale downplays his departure, it leaves a big question mark looming over a company that's already seen its fair share of change recently. It was less than a year ago when Mozilla co-founder and former CTO Brendan Eich was promoted to CEO, only to step down 10 days later over anger that he donated to an anti-gay marriage campaign. Chris Beard ended up returning to Mozilla to fill the position.
Since he's taken over, there have been other personnel changes, such as Tristan Nitot, founder of Mozilla Europe. Seeing Nightingale leave on top of it all has to be a bit unsettling, though at least it's not tied to a controversy.
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